Biodesign 2026

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  1. Biodesign 2026
    • Elemental Imprints: Bio Design Lab South Asia — Bangalore Lab**

(Art)ScienceBLR is the Bangalore laboratory node of *Elemental Imprints: Bio Design Lab South Asia*, an initiative of the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan that brings together bio design labs across India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The Bangalore lab is hosted by (Art)ScienceBLR, the public laboratory at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, and coordinated by Yashas Shetty.

The Bangalore lab takes **silk** as its anchor for exploring biomaterials.

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    1. Contents

1. The Network 2. The Bangalore Lab 3. Research Directions 4. Workshop 5. Travelling Resource Centre 6. Common Grounds 7. Kick-Off Meeting, New Delhi (13–16 January 2026)

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    1. 1. The Network

Labs participating in Elemental Imprints:

- Bangalore & Chennai - Colombo - Delhi - Dhaka - Kolkata - Mumbai - Pune

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    1. 2. The Bangalore Lab
      1. Context: Karnataka and silk

Karnataka produces roughly 70% of India's silk. If it were a country, it would rank as the world's third largest silk producer. The state's silk ecosystem — sericulture, reeling, weaving, research institutions such as the Central Silk Board, IISc and NCBS — forms the local ground for the lab.

      1. Approach

The lab's practice works by making imperceptible biological phenomena sensory and experiential, treating biological phenomena not as metaphor but as design material. Earlier (Art)ScienceBLR projects in this vein include the petrichor/geosmin project at NCBS and *Biodesign for the Real World*, a collaboration with EPFL and Lifepatch.

The two research directions grew out of provocations from Kumar, a textile engineer, whose hand-drawn diagram and correspondence on static electricity in textiles seeded the project.

      1. Research question

> *What are the living properties of biological fibres that we have not yet learned to design with?*

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    1. 3. Research Directions
      1. Silk Origami

Directing silkworms to spin onto bioprinted scaffolds that encode folding geometry. The direction takes its provocation from deployable structures, such as solar panels that unfold in space: can a living spinner lay down a material that already knows how to fold?

      1. Static Electricity as a Biological Phenomenon

Making the electroactive properties of silk and other biological fibres sensory and experiential — treating static charge not as a nuisance of textiles but as a living property of the material that can be sensed, heard and designed with.

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    1. 4. Workshop

- **Duration:** 10 days - **Dates:** last 10 days of November 2026 - **Participants:** 10 — a diverse group of artists, designers, scientists and engineers - **Venue:** (Art)ScienceBLR, Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bengaluru

      1. Rough structure

1. Ethics discussion 2. Brainstorming 3. Prototyping 4. One-day mini exhibition

  • (Participant list, detailed schedule and documentation to be added.)*

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    1. 5. Travelling Resource Centre

The project includes a Travelling Resource Centre (TRC), shaped by a curators' group. The Bangalore lab's proposal for the TRC argues for physical artifacts rather than a purely online exhibition.

      1. Proposed concept: The Unfinished Laboratory ("Tomorrow's Laboratory")

- **Tools travel** between the labs. - **Biological materials stay local**, rooted in each bioregion. - **Tools can be remixed** across labs as they move. - The accompanying publication is a **"laboratory manual of tomorrow."**

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    1. 6. Common Grounds

The shared principles of the Elemental Imprints network.

      1. Situated Relevance over Scale

We prioritise contextual relevance over growth or scalability. What matters is what resonates with those who live within the bioregion.

      1. Design as Ethical Practice

Every design decision must serve a social, cultural, or ecological purpose. Saying no, embracing limits, and acknowledging failure are treated as active ethical tools of our project.

      1. Non-Extractive Collaboration

The project does not take from communities; it enters into relationships based on agreement, mutual learning, co-design, and shared responsibility.

      1. Collective Ownership & Shared Authorship

Outcomes are governed through community trusts, shared patents, and common traces, ensuring that benefits and recognition remain collectively held.

      1. Process as Primary Outcome

We value process over product. Negotiations, failures, and adaptations are documented and treated as central to the project's meaning.

      1. Designing with Time

Rather than seeking permanence, we embrace change, decay, and afterlife, allowing designs to evolve, dissolve, or be repurposed.

      1. Material-Led Thinking

Materials are not passive resources but active agents that shape imagination, ethics, and form. Their heterogeneity informs both design and ecological responsibility.

      1. Bioregional Embeddedness

Knowledge flows through bodies, territories, languages, and stories. The project situates itself within living bioregional networks rather than abstract systems.

      1. Knowledge Systems

Understanding emerges through making, sensing, and engaging. We aim to foster cross-disciplinary knowledge systems that remain open to re-articulation, empowerment, and future transferability.

      1. Living Archives & Continuous Re-articulation

The website and documentation act as evolving ecosystems rather than static repositories, enabling representation, empowerment, and the ongoing redefinition of biodesign.

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    1. 7. Kick-Off Meeting, New Delhi (13–16 January 2026)
      1. Day 1 — Tuesday, 13 January 2026
    • Venue:** Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi

| Time | Session | |---|---| | 10:00–10:30 | Tea & Coffee | | 10:30–10:45 | Welcome Remarks — Hannah Jung | | 10:45–11:30 | Speed Dating Session | | 11:30–12:00 | Introduction to Bio Design — Julia Ihls | | 12:00–12:30 | Elemental Imprints: Bio Design Lab South Asia — project structure (Hannah Jung); lab structure overview; the curatorial language for the project (Pavni Anand) | | 12:30–13:30 | Lab Material Presentations: Dhaka Lab, Pune Lab | | 13:30–15:00 | Lunch Break | | 15:00–15:30 | Design Innovation in Bio Design in India — Gayatri Menon (online) | | 15:30–16:30 | Lab Material Presentations: Mumbai Lab, Kolkata Lab | | 16:30–17:00 | Tea & Coffee Break | | 17:00 | Close for Lab Partners and Colleagues | | 17:00–18:30 | Curators' Strategy Discussion — internal session on the Travelling Resource Centre strategy |

      1. Day 2 — Wednesday, 14 January 2026
    • Venue:** Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi

| Time | Session | |---|---| | 10:00–10:30 | Tea & Coffee | | 10:30–12:00 | Lab Material Presentations: Colombo Lab, Bangalore & Chennai Lab, Delhi Lab | | 12:00–13:00 | Discussion on Ethics — moderated by Ravi Agarwal | | 13:00–14:30 | Lunch Break | | 14:30–14:50 | Communication: Visual Identity — presentation by PAUS, followed by discussion | | 14:50–15:30 | Communication: Documentation Strategy — presentation by Shiv Ahuja, followed by discussion | | 15:30–16:30 | Exchange on Expectations for the Travelling Resource Centre — small group discussions facilitated by Aakansha Rastogi, Ravi Agarwal, Yashas Shetty and Bettina Korintenberg | | 16:30–17:00 | Tea & Coffee Break | | 17:00–18:00 | Short Presentations and Inputs about the Travelling Resource Centre |

      1. Day 3 — Thursday, 15 January 2026
    • Venue:** Farm8

| Time | Session | |---|---| | 10:00 | Departure from the Goethe-Institut for Farm8 | | 11:30–11:45 | Arrival and welcome — Rashmi Kaleka | | 11:45–12:00 | Reishi tea ceremony — Malvika Bhatia | | 12:00–13:00 | Site walkthrough with Rashmi Kaleka, followed by inputs from Malvika Bhatia | | 13:00–14:30 | Lunch | | 14:30–15:30 | Community-Driven Design Solutions — Sonam Tashi Gyaltsen | | 16:00 | Departure from site | | 19:00 onwards | Dinner at Max Mueller Bhavan with project partners |

      1. Day 4 — Friday, 16 January 2026
    • Venue:** Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi

| Time | Session | |---|---| | 11:00–11:30 | Tea & Coffee | | 11:30–12:30 | Questions on Running the Lab: International Lab Expert Pairing, Lab Equipment, Scheduling, Group Participants — Julia Ihls | | 12:30–13:00 | Open Call for Labs and Distribution Strategy — moderated by Julia Ihls and Hannah Jung | | 13:30–15:00 | Lunch Break | | 15:00–17:00 | Next Steps, Open Discussion, and Conclusion |

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    1. Links

- (Art)ScienceBLR: (Art)ScienceBLR - Related: Biodesign - Goethe-Institut: https://www.goethe.de

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